Joseph Smith III (1832-1914) was the oldest surviving son of Joseph Smith,
Jr., the Mormon prophet. He was a youth of eleven years when his father was
murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. When the bulk of the Mormon population,
led by Brigham Young, departed the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846,
Joseph Smith III remained behind with his mother, Emma Smith. In 1860 he
assumed the presidency of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (RLDS Church), a rival to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in
Utah (LDS or "Mormon" Church). The RLDS Church repudiated Brigham Young's
leadership and certain doctrinal tenets which attained notoriety under Young,
chiefly polygamy. This dissertation explores Joseph Smith Ill's relationship to the
Mormon Church. It investigates (1) the causes for his alienation from the Church
in Utah which led up to his affiliation with the Reorganization, and (2) his
adversarial relationship with Mormonism from 1860 until his death in 1914.

Throughout his years as president of the Reorganized Church, Joseph Smith
III sought to distinguish the non-polygamous RLDS Church from the polygamous
LDS Church in the eyes of the public. He also sought to gather "Old Saints" who
had never accepted Brigham Young's leadership into the RLDS fold, sought to
establish the Reorganization's claims among "Brighamites," and in every possible
way sought to combat polygamy.

Today the RLDS Church is the second-largest body of Latter Day Saints.
The personal history of Joseph Smith III and his stance toward the LDS Church
proved critical in the RLDS Church's growth into a permanent, coherent
alternative to the theology and practice of the Utah Church.

The last two decades have witnessed a great outpouring of scholarly studies
of Mormonism. Only a small percentage of this scholarship has focused on the
RLDS Church and its history, however. Among non-Mormon historians, the
neglect has been almost total. No standard biography of Joseph Smith III exists,
and to cover his lengthy and eventful life we have only one dissertation (by an
RLDS scholar) and one thesis (by an LDS student). Even the monograph literature
bearing on his career is surprisingly limited. This neglect of Joseph Smith III, by
scholars of American religion, is unfortunate. Not only was he a figure of great
importance in nineteenth century Latter Day Saint history, but he figured in the
larger story of American social, political, and legal history.

This dissertation demonstrates the importance of Joseph Smith III not only
in the development of the RLDS Church but in the larger realm of Mormon
history. No more can one understand nineteenth century Mormon history apart
from the life of Joseph Smith III than one can understand sixteenth century
Catholicism apart from Luther or Calvin. But Joseph Smith III was an important
figure beyond the realm of religious history per se. He played a prominent role in
the protracted federal struggle to suppress polygamy in Utah. His lawsuits over
the Kirtland Temple and the Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri raised
fascinating issues concerning the relationship of church and state which have been
neglected hitherto by scholars. His argument that polygamy was a civil rather
than strictly a religious question ultimately was adopted by the U.S. Supreme
Court and led to the demise of Mormon polygamy. Beyond his significance to
American political and constitutional history, his life contains valuable clues for
social history. Students of American sexual and marital mores will find much
valuable information in his life. So too will historians focusing on religious social
history.

This study therefore fills a scholarly lacuna. Its methodology is
biographical, focusing on one critical (and arguably the dominant) aspect of
Joseph Smith Ill's life. No attempt has been made to tell the entire story of his
life. Neither has any attempt been made to write a complete history of the RLDS
Church through the year 1914.

Several problems have arisen in writing this dissertation. First, there
was the problem of semantics. There is a long history of polemical warfare
between the RLDS and LDS Churches. This writer has attempted to avoid using
semanticalIy loaded expressions favored in this warfare by one side or the other.
Nevertheless, certain choices were unavoidable. For example, the Utah-based
LDS Church prefers the spelling "Latter-day Saint," while the Missouri-based
RLDS Church prefers the spelling "Latter Day Saint." Since this dissertation
deals with the first president of the Reorganized Church, the latter spelling
generally has been employed. The word "Mormon" poses another problem.
Originally this term was applied derisively to the followers of Joseph Smith, but
over the course of years it lost its pejorative connotation. Today it is employed
freely by members and non-members to refer to the LDS Church. But in order to
distinguish themselves from the larger LDS Church, members of the RLDS Church
generally resist identification as "Mormons," preferring to be called "Saints" or
"Latter Day Saints." This aversion is sometimes awkward, resulting in
circumlocutions such as "Latter Day Saintism." From the death of Joseph Smith
onward, this dissertation employs "Mormon" exclusively with reference to the LDS
Church headed by Brigham Young and his successors. However, during the
lifetime of Joseph Smith, "Mormon" is freely employed with reference to the
movement he headed. Another semantic problem arises from the fact that the
Mormon Church split into a great number of factions after Joseph Smith's death in
1844. Members of each faction claimed to be the true "Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints." To solve the obvious problem of how to distinguish between
so many Churches of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it became common to
refer to the various factions after the names of their leaders. Thus James J.
Strang's followers were called "Strangites," Alpheus Cutler's followers were called
"Cutlerites," Brigham Young's followers were called "Brighamites," and Joseph
Smith Ill's followers were called "Josephites." While such shorthand designations
often were used pejoratively during the Nineteenth Century, they are extremely
convenient devices for the Twentieth Century historian and are used freely in this
study.

Another problem relates to citations from sacred books common to both
the RLDS and LDS Churches. Both churches publish their own editions of the
Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Chapter numbering, section
numbering, and versification are not compatible between the RLDS and LDS
editions. In this dissertation, all citations from Latter Day Saint scriptures are
from the current editions, and scriptures common to both churches are cited from
both RLDS and LDS editions.

Another class of problems involves the relatively unstandardized
orthography, grammar, and punctuation found in nineteenth century manuscripts.
The following policy has been observed: (I) Eccentricities of spelling, grammar,
and punctuation are reproduced verbatim in quotations; all editorial insertions or
alterations are contained in brackets. (2) "Sic" is employed sparingly. (3)
Whenever it is impossible to ascertain whether or not the writer of a manuscript
intended to pen a comma or a period, a capital or lower case letter, or similar
ambiguities, the ambiguous character is interpreted in accordance with accepted
contemporary usage.

One feature of nineteenth century manuscripts—initially confusing to the
uninitiated—concerns the name, "Joseph Smith." There are three "Joseph Smiths"
in this story. Joseph Smith, Sr. (1771-1840) was the father of the Mormon
prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844). The prophet's son was named Joseph
Smith III (1832-1914). After the death of the eldest Joseph Smith in 1840, it was
not uncommon to refer to the prophet as "Joseph Smith, Sr." and his young son as
"Joseph Smith, Jr." To further complicate matters, in his mature years Joseph
Smith III usually referred to himself simply as "Joseph Smith." To avoid
confusion, this dissertation refers to the three individuals as "Joseph Smith, Sr.,"
"Joseph Smith, Jr.," and "Joseph Smith III." The use of the bare name, "Joseph
Smith," refers to Joseph Smith, Jr. in all cases. The reader should bear in mind,
however, that quoted material does not always observe this convention.

Spelling of personal names in the nineteenth century was relatively
unstandardized. To complicate matters, later historians often have substituted
alternative spellings for those personally favored by the individuals in question. In
this dissertation, preference has been given to the spelling employed by the
historical figure in question (when known).

A problem facing religious historians is how to approach accounts of
supernatural events. In Latter Day Saint history one faces such questions as
whether Joseph Smith received golden plates from an angel, the methodology and
accuracy of his translation of the Book of Mormon and his revision of the Bible,
and the reality or legitimacy of reported charismatic manifestations (revelations,
tongues, healings, etc.), to name several. This writer generally has adopted a
phenomenological approach, preferring to let readers form their own conclusions
about such questions.

Linda NewelI King and Valeen Tippetts Avery's definitive biography,
Mormon Enigma; Emma Hale Smith, Prophet's Wife. "Elect Lady," Polygamy's
Foe, 1804-1879, appeared in the fall of 1984. The chapters of the dissertation
dealing with material treated in the biography were already completed at this
time. Many of the biography's important conclusions were anticipated in this
dissertation through reference to other writings of the co-authors, however. In
several instances references to the biography have been added to the notes.

I am indebted to the staffs of the following institutions for their
assistance, advice, and courtesy: the Library-Archives of the Reorganized Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; the Historical Department of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the Common Library of the Graduate
Theological Union; the Hubert Howe Bancroft Library, University of California at
Berkeley; the Willard J. Marriott Library, University of Utah; the Harold B. Lee
Library, Brigham Young University; the Utah State Historical Society Library; the
Henry E. Huntington Library; the Frederick Madison Smith Library, Graceland
College; and the Illinois State Historical Library.

I wish to tender special thanks to a number of individuals. Sara J. Hallier,
Librarian at the RLDS Library-Archives, filled numerous requests for materials on
inter-library loan, replied graciously to repeated requests for information, and
generally rendered assistance far beyond the call of duty. L. Madelon Brunson,
Archivist at the RLDS Library-Archives granted me many favors and helpfully
rendered advice. Richard P. Howard, RLDS Church Historian, offered expert
advice when I was embarking upon my initial research. At the LDS Church
'"'Historical Department, James L. Kimball, Jr., Supervisor of the Archives Search
Room, brightened many a long day of research with his humor and offered many
useful suggestions. The rest of the staff in the Archives Search Room was
unfailingly courteous and helpful. Following my return to California, Glenn Rowe
of the Historical Department kindly answered all of my requests for additional
information. Nancy Young, in the Special Collections Department at the Marriott
Library, University of Utah, faithfully tended to my many requests for archival
material. Dozens of persons at the Graduate Theological Union's Common Library
have assisted me, and I cannot name all of them. Three, however, deserve a
special word of thanks: Mary E. Garrett, Georgie Moe, and Oscar Burdick.

Those who have completed a doctoral program will understand that one's
debts are not confined to the realm of academe. I could not have completed this
dissertation without assistance in the realms of housing, finances, and
employment. Among those who rendered such help were Mary Jo Kingsbury, Ken
and Katharine Reed, Bob and Barbara Francis, Ken Whitham, Lothar Heinz, and
my parents.

This dissertation was prepared on a Xerox 860 word processor belonging to
Siemens Medical Laboratories, Walnut Creek, California. It would be difficult to
calculate the considerable value—in saved time, increased accuracy, and improved
editing—of this word processor to my work. To Mr. Volker Stieber, the president
of Siemens Medical Laboratories, I tender thanks for his kindness in granting me
access to this machine.

I owe a debt of thanks to my dissertation committee: Eldon Ernst
(coordinator), John Dillenberger, Albert Raboteau, and Claude Welch. Eldon Ernst
has assisted me throughout most of my doctoral program, including general and
special comprehensive examinations, and to him I express a special word of
gratitude.